Another CBC: Skunk's

Saturday December 21 we participated in another Christmas Bird Count--Skunk's Misery.  This relatively new count has some great areas (Moraviantown, Skunk's Misery complex, Thames River etc.).

My area encompasses the SW corner of the circle including the metropolis of Thamesville.  I was accompanied by Janet Fraser this year.
We started under overcast skies, but eventually the sun came out for one of the nicest days we have had recently.  Was it really the weekend?
As expected, birds were scarce compared to previous years.  We started our day in the park at the east side of the village, then moved along the river to the Tecumseh Monument park.

That area was the quietest I have ever seen it.  Usually we find a number of birds at the monument.

Thames River

We then started zig-zagging up and down the "Zone" roads.  Birds were here and there.  Dark-eyed Juncos were fairly plentiful, but they always are on this count.  Other areas recorded good numbers.

At one point, I spotted two Eastern Bluebirds, which were nice to see.  We regularly get them on this count.

On Zone Road 2, we spotted an 'eagle' in the distance as we were looking into the bright sun.  It quickly disappeared into a woodlot, but I got a good enough look to know it was a Golden Eagle.  It was a first for my area!
Golden Eagles are regularly found on this count as they 'winter' in the Skunk's Misery area and to the north.
Less than a half hour later on Zone Road 1, we had another Golden Eagle sighting.  Better looks were obtained this time to see it was a young bird.  I assumed it was the same bird (but you never know) as it was the same latitude, only one road west.  I  only had my small camera on hand this day, but I did attempt a (useless) photo.

Our area goes up to the south edge of the village of Florence.  We stopped by the bridge and walked down to the river.  As many of you blog readers may recall, this spot is good early in the summer for odonates, especially the rare Dusky Dancer.  It was  bit cold today for them though!

Sydenham River

A couple kilometres south of the village, we encountered our only Northern Shrike.

A bit later we stopped by the bridge on the Thames south of Thamesville.  This area has changed drastically over the last while.  A new bridge has been built in the past year, and the old cantilever-truss bridge is totally gone!  Too bad, as it was one of the only ones of its type left.

This is actually a historic place, as several bridges have been on this site since the early 1800's.

They have done a nice job of cleaning up the site and planting trees.  One can still get to the riverbank to see the rare Smokey Rubyspots, along with American Rubyspots and others later in the summer... if one so desires.

Site of previous bridge

'Tother side

An old cemetery is here as well, and we walked to the back of it.  Not many birds again, though.
Lots of big trees here, including many Hackberry, Black Walnut, Sycamore, etc.

Hackberry

Our last walk was just west of the village at one of Janet's friends.  They have feeders (and cats!), but we did add a few birds here--not as many as usual.


We parted ways from here.  We added very little after this, but it was indeed a nice day to be out and about.

I do not have results of the count at the time of this writing, but I thought I would write about my day.  More on the results later.